The President of Equatorial Guinea, H.E. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo recently announced the country’s commitment to host an ACP information centre for South-South Cooperation in its capital city Malabo, which would foster cooperation amongst the 79 member countries of the ACP Group of States, as well as ACP collaboration with other partners of the Global South. “It is with honour and enthusiasm that the Republic of Equatorial Guinea host the ACP headquarters for South-South cooperation, an undertaking it regards with the greatest respect and strongest intentions.

In 2015, Spain was still the EU country with the most acreage devoted to organic crops, with 1.9 million hectares; 22% more than in 2010, according to data released by the EU statistics office, Eurostat. Specifically, Spain went from 1.6 to 1.9 million hectares in five years. Next in the rankings are: Italy (about 1.5 million hectares), France (1.3 million) and Germany (1 million hectares), according to Eurostat data. In 2015, the EU had a total of 11.1 million hectares of such crops, which is 21.1% more than five years earlier. When compared to the total agricultural area, the largest acreage devoted to organic crops is that of Austria (where they account for 20.3% of the total cultivated area), Sweden (17%) and Estonia (16%).

UNCTAD is set to support Central African countries cut the costs of their cross-border trade, after signing a three-year $420,000 deal with the European Union in Brussels last week. The grant enables UNCTAD to help countries comply with various trade regulations, including the Trade Facilitation Agreement, a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, that will streamline import, export and transit procedures between the WTO’s 162 members. The agreement could increase the value of global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion a year, according to the WTO.

Sweden is seeking opportunities that will increase the trade relations and volumes between it and Nigeria. Swedish Minister for European Union (EU) Affairs and Trade, Mrs. Ann Linde, who led the Swedish delegation to Nigeria, disclosed this in Lagos on Wednesday, during an interaction with journalists. Linde said the coming of the Swedish Delegation to Nigeria, was mainly to promote trade between the two countries, stressing that Sweden recognised Nigeria as an investment destination and a big trade country. “The aim of the delegation is to highlight business opportunities in Nigeria for Swedish companies.

EU-ACP relations are at a turning point. In February 2020, the Cotonou agreement, concluded in 2000, will come to an end. What will be next for this unique partnership? According to the deal itself, official negotiations on a new agreement will start by the end of August 2018. However, the stakes are so high that informal talks have already begun, and in October 2015, the European Commission launched a public consultation to assess this cooperation. The Cotonou agreement states that the ACP-EU partnership is "centred on poverty reduction, coherence with sustainable development goals and the progressive integration of ACP countries into the world economy".